February 2015

I Still Want People To Brag About Their Great Library Experience

That got me wondering about a great library experience. We librarians would always wish for our library-using community members to tell their friends and family – especially the ones who don’t use the library – about their (hopefully great) library experience. Word of mouth marketing can’t be beat – right. How do other people react to those library stories? If librarians better understood the impact of people sharing their library stories would it change anything about the way we approach the delivery of the library experience?


That got me wondering about a great library experience. We librarians would always wish for our library-using community members to tell their friends and family – especially the ones who don’t use the library – about their (hopefully great) library experience. Word of mouth marketing can’t be beat – right. How do other people react to those library stories? If librarians better understood the impact of people sharing their library stories would it change anything about the way we approach the delivery of the library experience?

From Designing Better Libraries » I Still Want People To Brag About Their Great Library Experience

February 16, 2015 by Librarians Libraries

Philadelphia’s Librarian Dilemma – Pacific Standard

Philadelphia—a city whose school system ranks among the nation’s worst—has a major reading problem on its hands. On Sunday, Philadelphia Inquirer’s Kristen Graham reported that the city’s school librarian population has dropped by an astonishing 94 percent since 1991. Twenty-four years ago, there were 176 certified librarians throughout the city’s 218 schools—there are now 11. This comes on the heels of the city’s 2013 closure of its top schools’ libraries—victims to an unmerciful budget crisis.

From Philadelphia’s Librarian Dilemma – Pacific Standard

February 16, 2015 by Librarians Libraries School Libraries

US Libraries Begin Offering Free 3D Printing to Public Amidst Learning Curves and Legal Questions – 3DPrint.com

The crucial element in libraries getting involved in 3D printing is that it is free. While it’s not so hard to get your hands on or get to a PC or printer, it is for most people nearly impossible to get to a 3D printer or, even further, to buy their own. Affordability in general is one of the biggest issues with 3D printing — and while desktop 3D printers are becoming more and more affordable, there is still expense involved, not to mention software, materials, and maintenance. Many individuals want to try their hand at the new technology, and prefer to dip their toes in gingerly at first before diving head — and wallet — first into the maker movement. With a learning curve associated with digital design and 3D printing, libraries offer a great benefit, doing what they do best: offering a safe, quite haven for learning.

From US Libraries Begin Offering Free 3D Printing to Public Amidst Learning Curves and Legal Questions – 3DPrint.com

February 15, 2015 by Legal Issues Libraries

At Your Service: Information Sleuth at the New York Public Library – NYTimes.com

Mr. Boylan and the eight other full-time researchers sit in a network of cubicles in the library’s Main Branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street and field about 300 requests a day.

“In a certain sense, the work I do begins where the Internet ends,” Mr. Boylan said. “Certain things you can’t find with Google.”

From At Your Service: Information Sleuth at the New York Public Library – NYTimes.com

February 15, 2015 by Google Internet Librarians Libraries Public Libraries

Uncle Sam and the Illusion of Privacy Online – The Atlantic

All of this is a reminder of one of the core principles of modern communication: that nothing is private on the Internet. But it also raises a question about the real nature of the privacy threat. Law enforcement requests are only part of the picture. The NSA, for instance, has used Facebook in its plans to hack computers on a mass scale, according to The Intercept. As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg put it in a blog post last year: “This is why I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the U.S. government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.”

From Uncle Sam and the Illusion of Privacy Online – The Atlantic

February 15, 2015 by EBooks Internet Legal Issues Privacy

Save Little Free Libraries from Uncultured Killjoys

I want a world of people who do what Yeon-mi Park did. After escaping North Korea, she “read and read and read, even when I didn’t know what I was reading.” She read Orwell, too, and found that “it made complete sense to me. I was still so angry and hateful at this time because of the way I’d been treated.” Reading Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, she says, taught her compassion to balance that anger.

From Save Little Free Libraries from Uncultured Killjoys

February 15, 2015 by Libraries

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers a fantastic, touching speech about why online privacy matters

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers a fantastic, touching speech about why online privacy matters
History has shown us that sacrificing our right to privacy can have dire consequences. We still live in a world where all people are not treated equally. Too many people do not feel free to practice their religion or express their opinion, or love who they choose. A world in which that information can make the difference between life and death. If those of us in positions of responsibility fail to do everything in our power to protect the right of privacy, we risk something far more valuable than money, we risk our way of way of life. Fortunately, technology gives us the tools to avoid these risks and it is my sincere hope that by using them and by working together, we will.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-on-online-privacy-2015-2

February 15, 2015 by Internet Privacy

Over 500 Stolen Books Worth 2.5 Million Euros Returned

At least 500 classical books, which were stolen from Italian libraries three years ago, were returned by German authorities on Friday. Polish Renaissance mathematician, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Italian physicist, Galileo Galilei, authored some of the books that are worth over 2.5 million euros.

The books were seized at an auction house in Munich, Germany.

http://webandtechs.com/2015/02/over-500-stolen-books-worth-2-5-million-euros-returned/

February 14, 2015 by Books Libraries

STM Consultation on Article Sharing

http://www.stm-assoc.org/stm-consultations/scn-consultation-2015/

Research is inherently collaborative with the sharing of information and expertise essential to advance our collective understanding and knowledge. STM would like to make sharing simple and seamless for academic researchers, enhancing scholarly collaboration, while being consistent with access and usage rights associated with journal articles.

February 13, 2015 by Uncategorized

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